ALBANY, N.Y. – Colgate men’s ice hockey freshman defenseman Nick Austin (St. Louis Park, Minnesota) has been named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week, as announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon.
Austin is the league’s first rookie of the week of the 2017-18 season while goaltender Colton Point (North Bay, Ontario) was nominated for the goaltender of the week award.
It was a weekend to remember for Austin as he scored two goals Saturday night to help Colgate come back to tie the Merrimack Warriors in overtime, 2-2.
Austin scored the first two goals of his career, giving him his first career multi-goal game. He became the first Colgate freshman defenseman to record two goals in a game since Jeremy Price ’13 did it twice during the 2009-10 season on Dec. 20, 2009 and March 13, 2010 in the ECAC Hockey playoffs.
Austin was one of three freshmen in the country to record two goals over the weekend and one of nine to record a power-play goal. He was the only league freshman to record a power-play goal.
In addition to his presence on the blue-line, Austin also blocked five shots defensively over the weekend to lead all rookies in the country.
Raiders Receive Votes in National Polls
For the first time since early in the 2015-16 season, the Raiders have received votes in both national polls. Colgate received 24 votes in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll to put them just four spots outside fo the top 20. Later on Monday, the Raiders received one vote in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men’s College Hockey Poll.
The Raiders were last ranked in the USCHO Poll in the 2015-16 Preseason Poll and last ranked in the USA Today Poll on Jan. 29, 2015, during the 2014-15 season.
The Raiders return to the ice Friday night when they travel to Durham, New Hampshire, to face the nationally ranked No. 20 New Hampshire Wildcats at 7 p.m. The game will be available on ESPN3 as well as on the Radio on 93.9 FM WKXZ, or www.wkxzfm.com.
